DHFR silence alleviated the development of liver fibrosis by affecting the crosstalk between hepatic stellate cells and macrophages

• Published in: Journal of cellular and molecular medicine Vol. 25; no. 21; pp. 10049 - 10060
• Main Authors: Peng, Yu, Li, Zedong, Chen, Sheng, Zhou, Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.11.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Animal models; Animals; Biomarkers; Cell activation; Cell Communication; Cell culture; Cell Line; Chemokines; Cirrhosis; Collagen; Committees; Dihydrofolate reductase; Disease Models, Animal; Disease Susceptibility; Exosomes; Exosomes - metabolism; Fibrosis; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Knockdown Techniques; Gene Silencing; Genes; hepatic stellate cells; Hepatic Stellate Cells - metabolism; Hepatocytes; Humans; Inflammation; Laboratory animals; Liver; Liver cancer; Liver cirrhosis; Liver Cirrhosis - etiology; Liver Cirrhosis - metabolism; Liver Cirrhosis - pathology; Liver diseases; liver fibrosis; Macrophage Activation - genetics; Macrophage Activation - immunology; Macrophages; Macrophages - metabolism; Male; Models, Biological; Original; Phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-Trisphosphate 5-Phosphatases - genetics; Phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-Trisphosphate 5-Phosphatases - metabolism; Polarization; Statistical analysis; Stellate cells; Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase - genetics; hepatic stellate cells; liver fibrosis; macrophages; exosomes
• ISSN: 1582-1838; 1582-4934; 1582-4934
• DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.16935

Liver fibrogenesis is a dynamic cellular and tissue process which has the potential to progress into cirrhosis of even liver cancer and liver failure. The activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is the central event underlying liver fibrosis. Besides, hepatic macrophages have been proposed as potential targets in combatting fibrosis. As for the relationship between HSCs and hepatic macrophages in liver fibrosis, it is generally considered that macrophages promoted liver fibrosis via activating HSCs. However, whether activated HSCs could in turn affect macrophage polarization has rarely been studied. In this study, mRNAs with significant differences were explored using exosomal RNA‐sequencing of activated Lx‐2 cells and normal RNA‐sequencing of DHFR loss‐of‐function Lx‐2 cell models. Cell functional experiments in both Lx‐2 cells and macrophages animal model experiments were performed. The results basically confirmed exosomes secreted from activated HSCs could promote M1 polarization of macrophages further. Exosome harbouring DHFR played an important role in this process. DHFR silence in HSCs could decrease Lx‐2 activation and M1 polarization of M0 macrophages and then alleviate the development of liver fibrosis both in vitro and vivo. Our work brought a new insight that exosomal DHFR derived from HSCs had a crucial role in crosstalk between HSCs activation and macrophage polarization, which may be a potential therapeutic target in liver fibrosis.